Saturday, January 24, 2009

Jai Ho,....!

Read my lips : no more 'Slumdog..." The movie and all the hype around it are coming out of my ears. Good on you , Boyle and gang. And may you win all the 10 Oscars you have been nominated for. But for now... I desperately need some respite. I have read all the reviews, heard most of the tv debates, absorbed differing opinions.... you get the gist. That the movie has not opened to full houses even in Mumbai does not surprise me in the least. Plus, it hardly matters. It has been declared a global winner. For now, let's get a life....and save the band baaja for the post-Oscars' party. Met Sushmita Sen after ages at a wonderful evening put together by the India chapter of the IAA (an international body that represents the advertising community). She was the chief guest at a contest to determine the best pitch to take Nobel Laureate Dr. Rajendra Pachauri's solar lantern initiative forward. Remember the 'Light a Billion Lives' campaign? Most of us noted it but didn't act. All it takes is 3, 600 rupees to donate a lantern, and 3 lakhs to bring electricity to a village. There are 40 crore Indian citizens living without electricity in this day and age!! What a shameful statistic. As Dr. P briefed a few of us, who formed the final jury, left to government intervention, lighting up these villages would take another 240 years!!! But with the support of NGOs, corporates and individuals, this life transforming initiative could achieve its ambitious target within a few short years. Annapoorna, Dr. Pauchari's attractive programme director demonstrated how very easy it was to get the Lantern movement to take off - and Sushmita was gracious enough to kick start the process by handing over 2 cheques, from herself and her daughter Renee, as her personal contribution. She made a charming and sincere speech.... and looked like a million bucks, clad in slim-fitting black trousers and a black shirt. There was no evidence of the extra kilos the press has been commenting on. The best thing about Sushmita is that she radiates positivity. There is an infectious exhuberance about her that is entirely appealing. Whether or not her career is going anywhere, is irrelevant. She is obviously in a happy space.... and glowing! Love ke side effects???

32 comments:

On the occasion of the Republic Day of our country, i take this opportunity to present this award to my blogger friends who have made a difference by writing their frank opinions in their blogs as well, as in the comment columns of other blogs. These bloggers have not written any sensational or luscious stories to attract traffic to their blogs, but they have put down in prose as well, as verse, whatever they have felt strongly about, may it be about their personal lives or about a burning issue of the society. The sole purpose of their writing has been to make a difference. I wish that their ideas may fructify and bring a change in the society for better. I salute them all.

hey maam,its nice to finally read a post on your blog which talks about empowering the nation... it is imperative for a responsible journalist to throw light on national issues which require immediate attention rather than harping about the glamorous world all the time..

I think its wonderful that you brought this campaign to our attention. Bringing development to India's villages should be the priority... yeah even more than creating new Shanghais. I firmly believe India's prosperity and healthy growth of the economy requires this. It is in India's villages that the silent majority lives.Grassroots, little itty bitty steps.

That Sushmita lends her support to this is no surprise to me. She has many times in the past demonstrated grace and compassion with a realistic eye to the public good.

Congratulations to Dr. Pachauri for his initiative and personally, I will find out more so that I can contribute my little bit for it.

May be Sushmitha lacked the maturity 10 years back than now, while Ash maintained her dignity. Sush was all over media for her stints with Sanju, drunken and found in foriegn hotel. Aish was a silent,mor glamourised, more beautiful,matured as she is now and then. She got her break getting married to most successful bachan family. Which I believe Sush lacked!

I fully agree. Sushmita Sen seems like a great person, inside and out. From the little that I know (from TV and movies and interviews), she exhibits a rare combination of both strength and elegance. No pretense of fragility. No vanity. She keeps it real! It's a pity that she isn't in as many films as I would like to see her take part in.

Ms Shobhaa De, you certainly voice a collective opinion in seeking relief from more Jai Ho of Slumdog Millionaire! Let the movie run, let in rake in awards. And let us go ga ga over it, after the Oscars :)

Thank yuo for sharing that info. both on the Solar Lantern Initiative and on Sushmita. Have always admired her earthiness, and the with it human soul she is, more than a plastic doll... :)

ya its true we are talking a lot about "Slum dog Millionair" but we shut keep some celebration left out for post oscar ----- and ya you are so true in describing shushmita sen that she "radiates positivity" ---------she is definatelly one of the best intelactuals in Bollywood !

Whoa! What a dumb way to hook an audience....you start off with Slumdog Millionaire....say you won't be talking about it but write one long dumb para about it that makes no point whatsoever except that you don't like others gushing about Slumdog Millionaire.

Then you say it's no surprise that it didn't open to full houses...not that you give Ghajini any credit for opening to packed houses...But suddenly popularity of the film becomes important because, you don't like people gushing about the movie so much.

Frankly, if you don't want to talk about Slumdog then don't talk about it! Or say something semi-intelligent about it.

Jai Ho..South of the Vindhyas.Was there at the premiere of Doggy the other night and Boy(le)..was not the Bolly brigade making an ass if itself..'Oh,our industry You know is finally..you know Indian cinema.' Tch.Tch,Idiots.

Not to nitpick but technically Dr. Pachauri cannot be addressed as Nobel Laureate: the organization he heads won the prize not him.

Having worked on env. & energy I feel that raising money and distributing millions of solar lanterns is the easier part. The problem is developing the infrastructure(including recurring costs) to service and maintain the lanterns.

Why is the media always promoting this slut who lives off of rich usually married men? She had the same opportunities as the other beauty pagaent winners (Aishwarya, Priyanka, Lara, etc.) and wasted them due to her lazy attitude. She prefers to earn her money on her back.

BTW, the Bachchans have done more for the light a village initiative then Sushmita will ever do.

Oh God !!! Rajender Pachury and his LaBL (Lighting a Billion Lives) Campaign....!!! Well Madam Before you really write about this come to your senses at least. Answer some of these questions first1> 40 c Indian lives without light...Now who gave you the right to bring in a bridge these people and provide them with somethin as stupid as lantern to start with...( Technically these solar lanters run for 4 hours and during moonson they are worth less. Thier battery needs to be replaed every year)

2> Why is the rural poor subjected to all the gueina pig experiments carried out by ill equipped people like Rajendra Pachaury

3> Rajendra Pachaury's own office ( TERI ) in Lodhi Road dosnt have a single light or desktops running on solar/biomass/biogas/any other whatsoever renewable energy....A Person who dosnt follows what he says..how can this person bring in renewable revolution

4> Why is renewable only for those rural villages where electricity from grid cannot reach under RGGVY Scheme (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojona). [ most of these power plant projects have failed in india as the technology dates back to those of WOrld War II]{{If you think Biomass Gasifier of Bio Diesel is something new then do carry out some more study}}

5> What is RKP tryn to prove to the world by striving for defection of the kerosene subsidy towards solar...( Tell that old man that in villages Kerosene is mostly used for cooking and then for lighting and NOT Vice versa) Solar lanterns wont help these people cook food in place of kerosene

6> THE TOTAL LCA OF SOLAR LANTERN IS NOT AT ALL CARBON EFFICIENT ( In other words the life cycle analysis of a solar lanter {its manufacturing, transport, batter disposal which is environmentally disasturous basically adds to the CO2 emmission in air})

7> Ask that person what plans does he makes for the disposal of 50 lead acid battery of the Solar Lanterns for each village where he is going to put up his lighthouse

I know he is an eminent person and I shouldnt question his LaBL projects but the juice is not worth the squezz

After the moving story about a slum kid winning millions on the Who Wants To be A Millionaire game show and its success, Danny Boyle has embarked on a more ambitious 'Princedog Billionare' film.

The story revolves around the real life story of the death of People's Princess Diana and her ill-fated boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed. Unlike the true story. Dodi Al Fayed in survives the car crash and rises with a vengeance to become the first Muslim prince of England with the help of the People's princess!

Dodi Al Fayed, son of Harrods Departmental Store chain owner Muhammed Al Fayed an Egyptian immigrant who strikes it big in England and grows to become a billionaire. His son, Dodi Al Fayed who grows up in the slums of London, also beats the odds of racism and rises in life.

The people's princess Diana is lost almost suicidal after being cheated by her husband the prince for another woman, when she meets the humble Dodi and falls in love.

But as luck would have it, it is frowned upon by the scheming royal family and the equally scheming English establishment. An assortment of henchmen and henchwomen from Mi5 eventually plan an accident in Paris tunnel to kill Dodi and the people's princess.

James Bond is sent by Mi5 to assasinate Prince Dodi and Princess Diana. James Bond actor Daniel Craig, who plays the role confesses "I always wanted to play the dark side of James Bond and Mi5 in a movie". "And Danny Boyle provides me with a perfect opportunity for that in Princedog Billionaire" adds Dainel Craig.

The accident is planned in a Paris Tunnel and the stage is set to be blamed on the chasing papparazi and executed by none other than James Bond 007 and Mi5. However, things dont go exactly as planned by James Bond this time and he ends up falling into the trap he set for Dodi. "This is one movie where James Bond doesnt come off beaming" quips Daniel Craig.

This is the turning point of the film and the story takes a twist from the true story of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed's car crash in a Paris Tunnel.

Dodi and the people's princess are rescued by a sympathetic papparazi who reaches on the spot and pulls them out of the crashed car. After a nearly two month struggle for life, Prince Dodi and the People's Princess eventually survive. Desperate to fight against the injustice done, they decide to reach out to the people of England to challenge the English royal family and the English establishment. In the process he also chastises the wayward prince 'Potty Harry' to give up racism.

An almost fairy tale like rise after his accident in Paris tunnel along with the people's princess, Princedog has all the ingredients of Slumdog's success recipe, though dollops more of it!

Prince Dodi's rise in Princedog Billionaire is comparable to the rise of the slum boy in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Prince Dodi starts off in a humble way in his approach to the people, but eventually becomes a phenomena in the country. The people of England embrace Dodi as the 'People's prince' along with the people's princess Diana. Prince Dodi is eventually designated as the next heir to English crown instead of William as he has people's mandate.

The Music for the film is composed by John Barry of James Bond Music fame. Daniel Craig plays the dark side of James Bond in the movie. However, despite the success, the winning star cast of Danny Boyle of Slumdog are missing from this film. Loveleen Tandon is missing from the direction and A R Rahman will not be composing music for this movie. "The cast and crew of Slumdog are not comfortable with English culture." says Danny Boyle. "I will recreate the magic of Slumdog in Princedog with a new set of crew altogether" says a confident Danny Boyle. "I may chose Dev Patel to play Prince Dodi, but the hunt is still on for an actress who can portray the people's princess Diana" concludes Danny Boyle.

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